In the college admission process, there are many factors that play into a student's decision of where to attend and many factors that play into the the college's decisions of who to admit. The SAT and ACT are the main focus on many college campuses. But, these standardized tests do not prove who the real person truly is or what he can accomplish. However, if your scores don't meet the minimum standard the school requires, the school may not even be willing to look at the other factors they say are part of the decisions. High school students stress way too much over these tests and the colleges put a lot of pressure on them to achieve success not only in the classroom, socially, and athletically, but also on the standarized tests.
To a certain extent, these test measure how good people are at taking a test. In fact you can take a prep course to learn how to do well on the test. In these prep courses, you aren't gaining any important knowledge, you are just learning how to beat the system. There are many students who work hard at school to get DECENT grades and then bomb these standarized tests. This kills them in the end. Many students put so much pressure on themselves to do well on a test that will not help them in any way in the future. The skills that these tests measure are only based on a certain amount of knowledge and kids with learning disabilities and other kinds of knowledge don't have a chance.
All and all these test are a waste of time. You can't measure a true value of a person using an SAT or ACT. A very smart kid who was lazy in high school and didn't put a lot of effort out there has a huge advantage going into these tests. Colleges should look at the whole person. I know some big colleges like UMass find it hard to look at every person in detail, but there are many things you can review other than test scores to prove that a student is worthy to be accepted into the institution.
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Kate Rivard to Timmy Clark
ReplyDeleteI believe the SATs and ACTs are very beneficial in predicting a person's ability in a particular area or line of work. These aptitude tests predict how well people will do in college, and the scores have proved over the years to be moderately correlated with college grades. I think it is a big difference from being "intelligent" in high school and being "Intelligent" in college. Kids in high school can barely try and still get A’s, while in college that is less feasible. I’m not saying that you will be stupid in college, it just depends on how much effort you put in and is not based solely, like in high school, on extra credit, sucking up, and knowing the test format from friends. I do believe that colleges should focus more on the whole person, but I believe the SATs and ACTs should play a minor role with regards of college acceptance. The SATs and ACTs, also have proven to be valid and reliable, which are two key factors in an accurate assessment of intelligence.
To: Timmy, From: Heather
ReplyDeleteI completely agree that SATs and ACTs are unfair in order to find out who a student really is. I believe that standardized tests should not be used for colleges to admit students and that there are better ways to distinguish how smart a person is. I know that I am a good student and I work hard and get all of my homework done. Taking tests, especially multiple choice, is where I lack. I am not very good at taking multiple-choice tests and I did not believe that my SAT score represented how smart I am. I think that there are other things such as personality, grades in high school, and much more that should be more important in being accepted into a college instead of standardized testing. SAT and ACT tests are unfair and should not be what is used to represent a student when getting accepted. I think that it is stupid for students to stress over a silly test because they need to be accepted into something that is so important, college.
Kate Loughlin to Timmy
ReplyDeleteI feel there are pros and cons to the SATs and ACTs. They are meant as some way to compare students nationwide who have very different educational experiences. It is beneficial in that grading systems and the types of activities available to participate in vary so much from high school to high school, and some students may have a lot of potential but not have lived up to it in high school. Unfortunately, it is very difficult for a test to see how smart someone is, it is more likely going to see how good somewhat is at taking the SAT or ACT. Also these tests have become big business and students who are able to pay for expensive courses or to take the exams over and over obviously benefit. College Board (the company that runs and makes money from the SAT) actually has changed the exam in recent years to make it more teachable. Also the skills that are tested on these tests do not to reveal if the student has the skills or personality for a specific career area.
By: Greg
ReplyDeleteTo: Timmy
I also agree that the SAT's are a crude overview of who the person taking the test really is, however, colleges don't only look at these scores to accept students. People tend to think they only do and therefore put a lot pressure on doing well on these exams, when really it's multiple factors coming in to decide. I, myself, only did alright on the math section of the SAT, and horrible on the two english sections. I still was accepted to UMASS, so there had to be other factors that played into me getting accepted. So my feeling is yes, it seems very important, but in the end it isn't everything. However, i agree with you about the classes that teach about the SAT's; the class i took pretty much only had shown how to answer particular questions.
By: Dave Morris
ReplyDeleteTo: Timmy
I completely agree. My combined SAT scores were 1590 and my teachers were flipping on me telling me to retake them. It's one test, out of god knows how many more in my life I'll have to take. Why should one exam have such a drastic impact on my future...literally the scores can mean the difference between a good and sub par college. There's more to a person than intelligence. I had a 3.75 GPA in high school. Clearly the SAT scores do not reflect my work in school. Other factors need to be taken into consideration. The SAT's put a lot of pressure on the test taker. Yes, it is important to evaluate what each student is capable of, but it should not be used against them in any way.
To Timmy From Brittany
ReplyDeleteI agree that the ACTs and the SATs aren't a good way to determine wether a person gets accepted to a college. I know from my own experience that my test grades for the SATs were below average when my grades through out high school were actually above average. There is more that a college should know about you then just your grades. You can have good grades but that shouldn't be the only thing that determines if you are admitted to a college. Giving out one tests to a huge group of people isn't really helping determine if a person is considered "smart" there are a lot of other factors that play into getting a good grade on these standardized tests. I think the information you learn for the SATs isn't information you are going to need to be successful in life, in fact its just stuff people memorize and stress over just to prove to colleges that they are good enough. The stuff you learn for the SATs you will probably never even remember after the test is over. Colleges should pay attention to college essays instead of basing their acceptances off numbers because something like an essay say more about a person then a test score.
To Timmy from Madi Vivian
ReplyDeleteLike many of you, I also agree with Timmy. Although I do understand the importance stressed on the SATs and ACTs, I do not think that a grade on one of these reflects who a person is as a whole. It definitely should not be such a BIG part of the admissions process. I think that high school grades, the personal essay, and extra curricular activities that a student had participated in during their high school years would be much more of a influence on where that student would get into school. I think that instead of the SATs and ACTs, we should have subject tests based on what he had learned specifically in high school. A lazy person who did not try once in high school could score extremely high on SATs . If the SATs show how well someone will do in college...then that college would think the student who scores high will excel there--but really they are extremely lazy and just take standardized tests well. On the other hand, a person who tried really hard in high school may not do as well on the SATs--so the college would think that they are not as intelligent and dont want it as bad but in REALITY the student who tried hard and did poorly will be sure to do better in college then the lazy student who tests well. It makes me very angry because my grades in high school, i scored first honors--but my SATs weren't nearly as good as what my high school grades should have reflected. I think that the college admissions process should look more based on an individual versus a percentile score comparing with a standardized test that isn't all around fair to base an individual's intelligence upon.